Global toy-maker Mattel Inc. announced a new digital-products joint venture with Chinese gaming giant NetEase Inc., as the U.S. firm tries to recast itself as a high-tech leader and major player in China.

The new joint venture, Mattel163, will be a “world-class publishing and development studio,” creating a wide variety of digital products based on the U.S. partner’s well-known brands such as Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, the company said in an announcement on Tuesday.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The joint venture’s first product will be based on Mattel’s game Uno, now available on Facebook Messenger and being developed as a mobile app. Mattel163 will later seek to create more mobile games and educational apps based on its brands, the company said.

The name “Mattel163” combines the U.S. firm’s brand with one of NetEase’s brands, based on its original 163.com website. From its roots as a web portal operator, NetEase has evolved into the country’s second-largest game publisher, developing some of China’s most popular homegrown games. It is also active in online education with its massive open online courses.

“By combining NetEase’s leadership in game development and publishing with Mattel’s expansive portfolio of global consumer brands, Mattel163 is poised to build captivating and creative mobile experiences,” said Sid Mathur, Mattel’s chief strategy and development officer.

After experiencing declining sales and profit for the past four years, Mattel has been actively seeking Chinese partners as part of a push to reverse its fortunes. China has become one of the world’s largest toy markets over the last decade, fueled by the country’s now-defunct one-child policy, which prompted parents to spend lavishly on the latest high-tech toys for their sole offsprings.

Last year, Mattel announced a new joint venture to create play clubs in China with local private equity giant Fosun Group. It also partnered with Babytree, an online parenting community, to develop an early-childhood learning and development online platform, and tied up with e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in online sales.

It said last year that it could boost its China sales by three to four times their current levels by 2020 if it executes well on a broader strategy to create a more-integrated ecosystem of high-tech toys and related services.

China toy sales grew 7.4% to top 69.3 billion yuan (about $10 billion at the time) in 2016, according to market research firm Euromonitor.

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Good News or Bad news? All the Silkstone Barbie dolls are on sale again! the last sales happened in August, they were 30% off. This time its 25% to 40% off.

…perhaps its time you give Barbie a boost and help America’s Economy grow by taking advantage of the 40% discount. 🙂 I already have all the Silkstone dolls except for the Blue Chiffon Gown… I will try to get her before this week ends. she would be $45 plus sales tax. its so much better than $75. but I feel sorry for both Mattel & Barbie…. the market is slow, something Mattel is doing is not right for Barbie

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Many of us have troubles to navigate Barbie’s website or access the BFC board. but why?

the simple answer is: Badly implemented scripts and zillions of adware tracking cookies make your web browser unable to cooperate with the site.

lets take a few bad examples

The page does not display properly

2. The page is not found –oops! after oops!

3. Page found, but contents are hidden: the words “the Barbie Bulletin Board” are all you see. The discussions & photos are behind closed doors… how can I “connect with fellow Barbie fans” if the doors & windows are closed.

4. “please wait while we process your request… ” wait for what? —The dead end. You can wait until your hair tuning into grey, nothing is going to happen.

Script errors & Script errors:

According to “Nibbler”, a free web testing tool, Barbie’s “Code” quality is rated 0.8 out of 10. more than 2000 errors were found on the five 5 pages tested.

however, Barbie is a great spy. She puts tons of Adware Tracking Cookies in your browser… the long list below only shows some of her tracking cookies I blocked:

I think she can make living by selling the information she collected, but she said she would not sell you down the river. Take a look at a part of Barbie’s Webpage “Privacy Policy” — NO, Barbie did not write these policies, its written by the Geo.yahoo that offers Barbie tracking services, Barbie adopts the policies when she plants its cookies in your browser

Barbie has dozens & dozens of adware tracking cookies, notorious doubleclick, Adteches, etc. are all among them, check out their privacy policies when next time you visit Barbie’s website.

Adware and tracking cookies make your web browsers’ performance horrible, that’s why many of us can not browse the BFC forum and Barbie website without glitches. the more you guard your privacy, the more difficulties you have with the crappy site. as you can see, I have a long block list..

how these tracking cookies help Barbie to make sales grow? I see Warnings from my IE browser all the time: “Mattel wants to track your physical location, allow it once?” I asked: “What differences does it make if I’m in New York or Shanghai, my shopping cart is locked, I cant buy anything anyway” — oh, not really, I figured out a workaround to complete the check-out process, its better Barbie does not know how I did it, she wont like it.

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I’m so fed up with the BFC forum, it has lots glitches and is so very hard to navigate, I don’t understand why Mattel has to use this outdated “Pluck” software–this company is out of business years ago, without updates, it wont cooperate with newer browsers.

I don’t think I have the energy to manage a forum, I can’t even keep my blog alive… so if someone is interested in this free board, its yours, I’ll hand it over to you… take a look, its free and it has Chat room, too! Even if you want to be a premium member, it only costs $10 per year. I think its good enough you just stay as free.

so if you have a little group of friends who need a place to discuss dolls and like to chat online, this board is perfect…

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I believe a group of scammers has started new plots on eBay to scam buyers.

Last week, there was a listing for 5 brand new NRFB Blush & Gold Silkstone Dolls, the price was $44.99 each, with free shipping , the seller is brand new with “0” feedback and a strange eBay ID that the scammer himself wont remember after he pockets buyers money.

3 days ago, a similar listing showed up, also for 5 brand new NRFB blush & Gold Silkstone Dolls, the price was $16.99 each with free shipping.

Blush & Gold is a newly released doll, MSRP is $100 each. so these “Brand New” sellers have no problem to quickly sell off these dolls within hours.

“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is” , buyers know it, but some of them think “What do I have to lose? PayPal or eBay will refund my money if I don’t get my doll”

Here is what you will lose:

Time: you wait for ages but don’t get the doll, the scammers use your money to run more scams. you may get a package with a Tracking number but without the doll you paid for. do you want to open a dispute? sure, go ahead, play more waiting game, eBay or PayPal needs time to decide who is the liar. the scammer say you are, you say the scammer is…

Personal Information: the Scammers have collected your name, address, phone number and eMail. they will keep selling your information on black market again, again & again… it also could be the beginning of Identity theft. the perpetrators will try to reroute your Mail, hack your eMail accounts… there are a lot of things they can do with these information.

This is not only happening on eBay, MANY newly opened online stores do exactly the same. these scam stores even buy Google ADs, when you buy Barbie, these scammers’ ADs show up on your screen: don’t want to pay more? the same doll is now 50% off on the scam site…

I have found at least a dozen of such scam stores, here is an example: there is a phishing “Barbie Store” website (yep, the website is called “Barbie Store”, I wont post link to boost these Scammers business) –this website copies all Mattel’s webpages, its prices are 50% off Mattel’s original prices. shipping is free. you can find all the collectible Barbie dolls.

I did a little online digging, found the site is newly registered on May 17, 2017, its expiration date is May 17, 2018. the address listed under “Contact Us” is a vacant residential house in NH, no one lives there. the contact email is Gmail.

I reported to Mattel via eMail, but Mattel is a big company, my eMail may get lost in thousands of eMails.

I’m warning all the online doll shoppers: Shop Smart. Use your common sense when you buy from individual sellers. Be logic: Why would a newly released doll’s price fall from $100 to $16.99 with free shipping? $16.99 is not enough to ship this doll from New York to California via Priority Mail. not to mention 10% eBay Fee and 2.9% PayPal charge the seller has to pay. so the seller is not selling you anything, you are selling your personal information to the seller. you don’t get the doll but frustrations.

People who paid $16.99 probably think $16.99 isn’t a big deal, its not even worth fighting with PayPal to get the money back –see, that’s why scammers keep doing it, b/c they know they can get away with it.

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This rose dress was wore by Kim Novak in Film “Phffft”, she played a small part in the film. her role in this movie probably has been forgotten, but the picture of this Rose Dress often pops up on internet, there are thousands of Pins on Pinterests.

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Honestly, I only buy groceries from small stores, everything else is from big stores b/c big chain stores offer unbeatable prices. I bought a little wool dress from a local boutique store for $120 plus tax, then, I found the similar dress was sold for $39.99 at T.J. Maxx and tax free (clothing under $110 is tax free) .

Many of my neighborhood stores have gone out of business. the “space for rent” signs are everywhere. A new gift shop opened a few blocks away from my apartment building early this month, I doubt this store would have a chance to survive. why? b/c of its poor merchandising. These little porcelain figurines and plush animals are just not in big demand, online stores offer more choices and low prices… Rent is very expensive here…..